"You've injured me by your argument, but I know well enough how to force you to make it good to me..." 1845

Curator: It's delicious irony, isn't it? This lithograph by Daumier, with its endless title about arguments and justice, feels incredibly charged, as though he has just finished drawing it. Editor: Yes, this piece, "You've injured me by your argument…", it feels really tense! The man on the left is grabbing the other by the collar, while the other three are staring back at the viewer, with an obvious air of shock. What should we make of this scene? Curator: To me, it speaks of the simmering tension beneath the veneer of 19th-century French society. The justice system, meant to be a pillar of order, is revealed here as being just as prone to conflict and absurdity as anything else. Can't you almost hear the shouting? Editor: It's all in the faces, isn't it? Thanks, I now see a different view of justice through the image.